PurpleMustReign wrote:It seems like all Minnesota teams take so long to develop into a winning team. Everson Griffen is going into his 8th or 9th year. Look at the Wild with their aging roster. By the time one part of the team catches up with the other, they have about one, maybe two, good seasons and then it is rebuild again.

Mothman wrote: His function is obviously to coach the football team and since he has a 114-61-1 record (plus a winning record in the postseason and a Super Bowl victory), with one losing season in 11 years, I'd say he's done a pretty good job of it. I've certainly seen better head coaches but thus far, Zimmer isn't among them. I wish the last 11 years for the Vikings had been as successful as McCarthy's tenure in GB. Unfortunately, it's not even close. As Craig said above, ownership has had something to do with that but the Wilfs will remain the owners for the foreseeable future so we have to hope they continue to learn, grow and improve in their role.

I just hope we don't see another mediocre season this year. If so, no change should be off the table.

I agree that management is currently backing us into a corner, with no starting QB for the 2018 season. We'll likely have to reach in the draft or get taken behind the shed by Bradford's agent. As for finding one in the draft it's often a crap shoot, the odds of the Colts falling into Luck were minimal, yet the football gods injured Payton Manning in a very specific year. EJ Manuel and Geno Smith were the top two prospects the year after Luck.

It's not like the Packers traded up to get Rodgers or anything.

Granted, grabbing the third or fourth rated prospect every few years, hoping for a franchise guy, is a horrible pattern that we should look to break out of.

If this is a failed year, I could see a clean sweep Rick and Zim. Which would be fine, just hopefully we don't settle for a mediocre QB talent to hook our new guys up with.

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Not easy being a Vikes fan and staying an "unbiased" creator of Sidestream Football. This is my therapy. SKOL.

SidestreamFB Pete wrote:I agree that management is currently backing us into a corner, with no starting QB for the 2018 season. We'll likely have to reach in the draft or get taken behind the shed by Bradford's agent. As for finding one in the draft it's often a crap shoot, the odds of the Colts falling into Luck were minimal, yet the football gods injured Payton Manning in a very specific year. EJ Manuel and Geno Smith were the top two prospects the year after Luck.

It's not like the Packers traded up to get Rodgers or anything.

Granted, grabbing the third or fourth rated prospect every few years, hoping for a franchise guy, is a horrible pattern that we should look to break out of.

If this is a failed year, I could see a clean sweep Rick and Zim. Which would be fine, just hopefully we don't settle for a mediocre QB talent to hook our new guys up with.

It would definitely be nice to see them break that QB cycle.

Ideally, there will be no need for a clean sweep either. We'll see what happens... it's hard to know just what to expect from the Vikings this season.

Mothman wrote:
It would definitely be nice to see them break that QB cycle.

Ideally, there will be no need for a clean sweep either. We'll see what happens... it's hard to know just what to expect from the Vikings this season.

I'm optimistic and think we have a chance to make some noise this year. But, odds are we go 7-9, 8-8, or 9-7. In which case we are in really bad shape. We'd have to make a massive trade to get a top 2 QB prospect, or pay Sam, who just lead of to 7 or 9 wins. If we're not making playoffs, ideally we miss it by 5-6 games and get a top prospect to begin the rebuild.

Either way, just put down $10 Vikes win the SB haha pays 37 to 1. #NotScared

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Not easy being a Vikes fan and staying an "unbiased" creator of Sidestream Football. This is my therapy. SKOL.

The Vikings will go 10-6, at worst. Enough of this conservative bs. They improved the most out of any team in the division and that's nearly half the battle right there. No reason they don't win 10 games.

PacificNorseWest wrote:The Vikings will go 10-6, at worst. Enough of this conservative bs. They improved the most out of any team in the division and that's nearly half the battle right there. No reason they don't win 10 games.

With no running back, a quarterback that didn’t join the team until Week 1 of the regular season, and a plethora of offensive line injuries the Vikings were two fourth-quarter (more like final 2 minute) melt-downs against the Lions and a blown referee call against the Cowboys away from being 10-6 or 11-5. They have address the offensive line; Sam Bradford has a whole offseason to prepare for his contract year; and they got the most dangerous weapon in the 2017 NFL Draft, Dalvin Cook, to match up with Latavius Murray -giving them one of the better running back tandems in the NFL. With an improved running-game, their rested defense going to be even more dangerous."

And I do believe it!

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Not easy being a Vikes fan and staying an "unbiased" creator of Sidestream Football. This is my therapy. SKOL.

With no running back, a quarterback that didn’t join the team until Week 1 of the regular season, and a plethora of offensive line injuries the Vikings were two fourth-quarter (more like final 2 minute) melt-downs against the Lions and a blown referee call against the Cowboys away from being 10-6 or 11-5. They have address the offensive line; Sam Bradford has a whole offseason to prepare for his contract year; and they got the most dangerous weapon in the 2017 NFL Draft, Dalvin Cook, to match up with Latavius Murray -giving them one of the better running back tandems in the NFL. With an improved running-game, their rested defense going to be even more dangerous."

And I do believe it!

On paper it looks good....very good. But.....they need to execute and a little luck to bounce their way. I'm all in.

With no running back, a quarterback that didn’t join the team until Week 1 of the regular season, and a plethora of offensive line injuries the Vikings were two fourth-quarter (more like final 2 minute) melt-downs against the Lions and a blown referee call against the Cowboys away from being 10-6 or 11-5. They have address the offensive line; Sam Bradford has a whole offseason to prepare for his contract year; and they got the most dangerous weapon in the 2017 NFL Draft, Dalvin Cook, to match up with Latavius Murray -giving them one of the better running back tandems in the NFL. With an improved running-game, their rested defense going to be even more dangerous."

And I do believe it!

There it is. The Lions were a team that statistically over achieved last year, winning several games on last second heroics by their QB. We bore the brunt of two of those comebacks. The Cowboys were a team that over achieved playing a very soft schedule. IMO both of those teams are much more likely to be worst in 2017 than 2016 as they regress to the mean.

The '17 roster has to prove it, but on paper I do not see an argument that the roster on offense hasn't gotten markedly better from a '16 club that had no viable option at RB and the worst set of tackles in the NFL. The question is how much better? Is it enough to flip the games on the margin? I think so. Others seem to think not.

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Winning is not a sometime thing it is an all of the time thing - Vince Lombardi

I think they have enough talent in place to be a serious threat. With Remmers and Rieff being average next season, it would represent a significant upgrade on offense. Also, if there is any semblance of health stability along the line it will be huge.
If they only manage 8-8...heads should roll.

Nunin wrote:I think they have enough talent in place to be a serious threat. With Remmers and Rieff being average next season, it would represent a significant upgrade on offense. Also, if there is any semblance of health stability along the line it will be huge.
If they only manage 8-8...heads should roll.

Yeah I agree on that. If they go 8-8, barring major injury, it will be a failure of management. They addressed the major debilitating issues from last season. Time to deliver.

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Winning is not a sometime thing it is an all of the time thing - Vince Lombardi

Nunin wrote:I think they have enough talent in place to be a serious threat. With Remmers and Rieff being average next season, it would represent a significant upgrade on offense. Also, if there is any semblance of health stability along the line it will be huge.
If they only manage 8-8...heads should roll.

Reiff had a down year at LT last year, but he is built to run-block. Remmers actually graded pretty well (79) on PFF as a run blocker in 2016. We are clearly looking to have a run based team this year. We even drafted a runblocking C/OG in Elflein to help our well-rounded backfield.

They have a good shot of laying down a viable run attack, which will innately take pressure off of Bradford. It helps get us in less obvious, shorter, second and third down situations, teams will be less prone to pin their ears back. It will also give our defense (obviously our strong point) more time to rest.

I think they had the right idea and picked up two tackles that can get it done.

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Not easy being a Vikes fan and staying an "unbiased" creator of Sidestream Football. This is my therapy. SKOL.

If we don't rid ourselves of this west coast dink and dunk offensive strategy we will go nowhere fast. It's not a viable offensive scheme in 2017 anymore. It worked in the 80s for the 49er cause they had rice and taylor who could catch a short pass and run for 70 yards at any time. We haven't any WR like that since Anthony Carter and Randy Moss.